Educators have already glommed on to iOS devices in the classroom, as I learned when I attended the biennial Connected Summit at Abilene Christian University last year. The iPad, with its 9.7" screen and sub-$500 price, quickly became a popular device for one-to-one technology initiatives in K-12 classrooms. And Apple encouraged that adoption late last year when it introduced a revamped iTunes U app, iBooks Author, and affordable, iPad-optimized digital textbooks.

When Apple released the third-generation iPad in March of this year, it retained the 16GB iPad 2 at a lower, $399 entry-level price. That price drop made the already attractive tablet a better deal for cash-strapped schools, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. For instance, San Diego's Unified School District bought the tablets once the price dropped to under $400, and the McAllen Independent School District in southern Texas recently inked a $3.5 million per year deal to outfit its students with about 25,000 iPads.

The iPad mini is widely rumored to start at around $299, perhaps even as low as $249. That price could be a tipping point for many schools to consider adopting tablets like the iPad mini in greater numbers.

"Once these tablets get in to the $200 to $300 range we are going to see a real aggressive uptake in the K-12 market," Vineet Madan, a senior vice president at McGraw-Hill Companies education unit, told Bloomberg Businessweek.

Apple plans to emphasize the new iPad mini's educational value tomorrow, according to Bloomberg Businessweek's sources. In addition to its low cost, smaller size, and compatibility with educational and creative apps, Apple may also unveil an updated, 3.0 version of its iBooks e-reader app. The existence of the update has already been leaked via iTunes Store descriptions for updated e-book titles which require the new version. The app will have improved support for ePub 3 standards, according to The Digital Reader.

As another part of tomorrow's announcements, Apple is expected to begin offering a revised iPad 3, which is believed to include Apple's new Lightning connector and possibly updated LTE hardware—the same Qualcomm MDM9615 chip used in the iPhone 5—that is compatible with more 4G networks around the world. With the iPad mini effectively taking its place as the budget tablet geared towards education, Apple could also discontinue the $399 iPad 2.

The success of this device really depends on two things. Its price and its weight.

After using Android based sub-10inch tablets I need no convincing of their utility. A full iPad is too darned heavy to be used instead of a book. This on the other hand should be usable in one hand without your arm aching.

The iPad mini is widely rumored to start at around $299, perhaps even as low as $249. That price could be a tipping point for many schools to consider adopting tablets like the iPad mini in greater numbers.

The current iPod touch starts at $299, this is going to be a problem for much of Apple's lower end product line, which typically didn't come with low end pricing. I can't see how the iPod touch could not be completely cannibalized by this minature iPad.

I can't see how the iPod touch could not be completely cannibalized by this minature iPad.

To paraphrase John Gruber, smaller is cheaper, but miniaturized is expensive. You can't stick a 7.85" iPad in your pocket, or strap it on your wrist to go jogging. The $299 iPod also starts at 32GB, where the iPad will start at 16 (maybe 8? But unlikely - no iPad has ever had just 8GB storage). They aren't the same product segment.

Besides, so what if the iPod is cannibalized by a different Apple product? Better to have it cannibalized by a smaller iPad than a Nexus 7.

The play here is vendor lock-in, which should be very profitable, especially long-term.

Also the idea of a "walled garden" being seen in a positive light by school administrators.

But, the app & support eco-system must also have an effect on potential buyers. Its not like they are buying Android tablets directly from Samsung, or taking the gamble that buying a bunch of Surface tablets from Microsoft might work out better in the long run...

If this is really targeted at education, and education is price and size sensitive with no currently entrenched vendor, why hadn't education picked up one of the many Android tablets that has been out a year out more already? What is Apple doing that Android hasn't?

I can't help but wonder if the educational push is any sort of reaction to Amazon's fledgling Whispercast technology?

education has always been a push for apple.

That may be fair to say but the execution has been less-than from my experience. Students at my tech-focused college seethe when forced to use our "Mac Lab", and iTunes U suffers from some silly oversights and usability issues, in my opinion

The current iPod touch starts at $299, this is going to be a problem for much of Apple's lower end product line, which typically didn't come with low end pricing. I can't see how the iPod touch could not be completely cannibalized by this minature iPad.

I think this makes sense, though apple's product lines are mostly immune to cannibalization. a more likely reason is that the ipad mini would be marked up as a result of apple's ability to price "low enough". so as much as I'd like the much-rumored $299 pricing, I get the feeling that it'd be closer to $349 at launch – especially with the holiday season rapidly approaching. it seems a given that the masses will want the latest and greatest from apple to be under the tree, no matter the price. and a $349 pricepoint would seem like a bargain in comparison to $499.

then, 6 months from now when manufacturing has ramped up, apple drops prices across the board by $50, and another wave of people rush in.

If this is really targeted at education, and education is price and size sensitive with no currently entrenched vendor, why hadn't education picked up one of the many Android tablets that has been out a year out more already? What is Apple doing that Android hasn't?

Tightly integrated library of eTextbooks and educational apps, plus long-standing reputation for partnerships with school districts. Vertical marketing has always been Apple's approach and they are pretty good at it, particularly in the education sector.

The iPad mini is widely rumored to start at around $299, perhaps even as low as $249. That price could be a tipping point for many schools to consider adopting tablets like the iPad mini in greater numbers.

The current iPod touch starts at $299, this is going to be a problem for much of Apple's lower end product line, which typically didn't come with low end pricing. I can't see how the iPod touch could not be completely cannibalized by this miniature iPad.

The iPad with 3G starts at $529 for 16 GB, while the unsubsidized cost of the iPhone 5 is probably about $650. Building a computer to fit into a pocket is expensive, so getting bigger probably helps Apple's margins in this case. The only additional costs are screensize, the power to drive that screen and a bit more battery.

Plus, I doubt Apple cares which one you buy, just that you buy one (or both). Honestly, the bigger issue for Apple is it likely doesn't want to cannibalize its more expensive iPad. That's revenue it already has and isn't going to want to lose.

GAAAA!! So now not only do we know about the form-factor, the specs, the price, the release date, the screen resolution, all before the announcement, we're also pontificating about some long-game education-bent to this thing! Stop yer pontificating!

The educational market is exactly the place where you want the larger real-estate of a 10" tablet. Interactive books with expansive layouts just don't work that well on smaller-sized screens.

Came to say exactly this. Smaller tablets are unusable in a classroom especially once you start taking notes or annotations. I can dock a PDF or PowerPoint next to my notes on a 10" tablet. Couldn't do it half as effectively on a 8" tablet. Add in the lack of stylus / ink support in iOS and the onscreen keyboard wipes out even more space.

Frankly, Samsung has a vastly better product for the use case in the Galaxy Note Tab. They should start marketing there.

Also, current studies have already shown that teachers at least prefer their laptops over iPads as work tools in pilot programs.

School equipment needs to be a tool, not a consumption device.

If one just needs a replacement for books in electronic form, Amazon, B&N, and OLPC have it covered at superior price points. Any interactive materials being developed by education interests needs to be platform independent via HTML and similar.

The play here is vendor lock-in, which should be very profitable, especially long-term.

How is "ePub 3 standards" vendor lock-in? Also what other device works as well and offers as many features at this price point? The Fire is a good device and offers a good alternative at a lower price, the competition in this market will make both better in the long run.

That's a possibility. The $499 iPads were being sold to schools for as low as $420 each in quantities; I don't have information on the $399 iPad 2, but there are likely small discounts for quantity purchases. If Apple planned a $249 price for EDU from the get go, that seems very likely. Then massive consumer purchases at $299 effectively subsidize the "lost" margin on EDU sales.

This is exactly where iOS largely excels over the alternatives. I have talked with educators from all over the world that use iOS devices, including iPod touches and iPads, in classroom work. Students are using Keynote to make presentations, shooting and editing video using iMovie, and all sorts of other creative, "creation" activities using these devices. It's not simply reading iBooks and playing Math Blaster or Oregon Trail, though iOS devices can do that, too.

If this is really targeted at education, and education is price and size sensitive with no currently entrenched vendor, why hadn't education picked up one of the many Android tablets that has been out a year out more already? What is Apple doing that Android hasn't?

Walled garden immediately springs to mind.Locked down OS is another thought.

Having a long, reliable, and consistent update/patch track record probably helps too.

The only thing Apple doesn't do better is price, but then the argument is that all of the above "features" are what the institutions are paying for.

The idea that pricing a 7+" device at the same or lower price than the iPod touch would be an issue for apple is in fact NOT a conflict. Apple's 13" Air is priced below the 13" pro, minis cost less than iMacs with near identical specs, this is common in product lines. The iPod serves the extremely portable market, the iPad the lass portable market. Also the iPad runs 150,000 apps the touch can't.

It's not a value choice between the iPod and iPad, it;s a use choice. It;s also the idea that, yes, they could canibilize a few of their own sales, but they'll also have some people buying BOTH. Far more improtantly however are the millions of people who want a tablet, not a phone-sized device, who won;t pay over $300 that will instantly become apple customers, cannibilizing android many units for each one apple cannibilizes of its own.

Profit is profit. In fact, given the miniturization and complex build requirements of the iPad vs iPod, I doubt these two products have more than a $40 difference in bill of materials. The iPad 8GB might even come out cheaper than an iPod 16GB.

But, I believe the real option here is this: the 8GB model iPad at $249 I'd expect to be an education-only model. I would see a 16GB at $299 or $329, and there would become even less of a value choice between the iPod and iPad. At the same price, you buy one or the other, and the profit to apple is about the same either way, and it means less android sales. Android can have the sub-200 market, apple doesn;t do loss leaders or bargain basement machines, they'll let their competition cannibilize each other for the 3% of all profits that exists in that market space, Appel will take the 80% of the profits it already has and add to it with a more diversified lineup.

This is exactly where iOS largely excels over the alternatives. I have talked with educators from all over the world that use iOS devices, including iPod touches and iPads, in classroom work. Students are using Keynote to make presentations, shooting and editing video using iMovie, and all sorts of other creative, "creation" activities using these devices. It's not simply reading iBooks and playing Math Blaster or Oregon Trail, though iOS devices can do that, too.

Oh, stop. The geekerati have decreed that a mobile device must have full root access and seven Python interpreters to be useful. You are spouting blasphemy. Doctorow decreed that the iPad was the death of innovation. Stallman stated that the iPad was a threat to our freedom and our precious bodily fluids. The high geek potentates have issued their fatwas. How dare you go against them!

Always nice to launch a push into education months after the school year started.

Yeah, there will be other school years. Just sayin. Unless, you know, the Mayans...

Seeing as it would take a school a while to get these and figure out the best way to use them, and different schools would take different amounts of time, there probably is no best time to release relative to that noise.

A lot of school districts these days have no clue what they are doing anyway, but that's a different can of worms.

If this is really targeted at education, and education is price and size sensitive with no currently entrenched vendor, why hadn't education picked up one of the many Android tablets that has been out a year out more already? What is Apple doing that Android hasn't?

- IT management and deployment tools- Extremely easy to completely lock down using profiles- Easy backup and restore of devices en-masse, not just for a single user- iBooks, iTunesU, HEAVY backing by almost every major publisher, something nearly non-existant for android. Other than generic text ebooks, no major education publishing house is releasing app-style internactive content for schools on Android. - in-house app hosting, easily, with great direct support from Apple to do it- LOCAL shops for support/repair. - HIPAA secured devices, no removable media to worry about, no sideloading, remotely configured VPN.- Every device in the district, whether bought this year, last year, etc, runs the same exact OS. (This alone is HUGE!) Supporting 4-5 different makes/models with variances in OS, Skin, etc, woudl be a nightmare for a district).- Doesn;t require any other infrastructure than ann exchange server for management, and a single $999 server from apple for hosting internal apps. no 3rd party per-device licenses for remote managment as android requires, no expinsive Windows server custer required to support it either. (This is exactly why my firm, though seriously anti-apple from the top down, just dropped android for iOS now that iPhopne 4s are available free on enterprise contracts, we love android, but supporting 1300 of them was an extreme cost in licensing and talent, and iOS basically manages itself, no more MAAS360, no more additional servers, no more IT calls, hell IT doesn't even setup the phones anymore personally they're shipped direct to the user with a single piece of paper telling them how to associate their email and then exchange does everything else)

Android is basically devoid of any logical enterprise support model. Lack of consitant updates, lack of consistant user experience, lack of direct vendor support, lack of free central management tools, and lack of educational content. Apple got it right with school sand enterprise, and if Android doesn;t get it;s game together, Google is going to learn the same lesson apple did in the 80s, without enterprise, you lose.

We've been using Kuno (Android ICS) tablets for students. We tried the iPad route with the iPad 1 about 2 years back when everyone in my tech dept thought it was the greatest thing in the world, but they soon found out that managing them was nothing short of a horrible headache. With the Kuno's we can tailor the tablet to the grade level and manage permissions. The only complaint that I would have is that even though they are capacitive touch tablets, their sensitivity is decent at best. Still, managing them is much simpler than our iPads.

Honestly, from a strictly education standpoint... a Nexus 7" would be much more suited1) It would have a good long term update schedule as a nexus device2) Most importantly, it's significantly cheaper. The launch price for the 8 GB model is under $200

By the time the holidays roll around and the Mini iPad releases, you could probably get an 8 GB N7 for $150.

iPad mini at less than $300 is impossible, minimally $350 if that. Education sector in the United States is quite below standards because of society surrounding them, yet they think by buying mass numbers of an overpriced tablet is the solution? I'm all for tech on education as a science major student but throwing money at a company dealing with the gov. under the table is not the solution. There are other tablets far more useful if there has to be a tech gadget in class.

- Use interactive books from McGrawhill, Pearson, etc that do not exist at all for android- Allow students to run presentations themselves without requiring the transfer of the presentation file itself to a teacher's PC (virus risks involved are high). - tens of thousands of visually interactive educational apps- interactive quizzes run from an app on the teacher's workstation.- classroom attentive management (realtime course material presentation that requires the student to interact with the iPad, and which provides feedback to the instructor as to who is paying attention, and as a whole is the class understanding the material)- paperless testing, quizzes, and more- far easier to transport than a bag full of heavy textbooks- being able to ask the teacher a question about material anonymously (many kids WOULD ask for help, but don't want to be seen as not getting it, so they won't ask, with a tablet they can do just that using any number of interactive edication apps)- Kids can see in real time questions from OTHER students, either on the main classroom screen/smartboard, or on their own pads- digital notes are more easily shared in study groups than those written in books, or worse, written on ruled paper in a binder further seperated from the actual book content (since most kids can;t write in the books at all).

This is just a short list of some of the thing's i've seen being done. The educational possibilities of digital devices in the classroom are endless. Fears about students "drifting" (running other apps) are also unfounded as most internactive education apps will actually notify a teacher if they're existed, so the students literally can't just be browsing the ewb instead of paying attention as they could readily do on a normal PC. They're cheaper than PCs, don;t require ABV tools, are more secure than PCs, are easier to roll out and support than PCs, and the apps/software costs a LOT less as well.

Can android do all this? Well, yes, but "could" is very much the operative word here. Google itself is promoting near zero central support, manufacturer differences and OS differences make IT support complex and expensive, Publisher support is virtually non-existand for android, and because of that developer support for classroom management apps is also extremely light. Android is extremely hard to manage centrally as well, requiring purchase and support of 3rd party tools, which often don't work one OS to the next, and which are also for enterprising kids to bypass. iOS includes CORE OS level controls android simply lacks that make central supprot, management, distribution, and control extremely easy, and apple has put tens of millions behind an involved community and given away free and simple tools to specifically encourage educational development on the platform.

Yea, Android "could" do this, easy, but since they DIDN'T, ipad is the go-to platform.

Since I clearly don't have iPads in my child's classes, but both my kids have grown up with iOS devices, including an iPad:

1) You learn how to count2) You learn how to add3) You learn colors4) You learn how to read5) You learn how different shapes have different properties6) You learn how physics works (mass, momentum, pendulums, velocity, parabolas, slope, vectors, kinectic energy, potential energy)7) You learn how to write8) You learn how to read time9) You learn how to estimate size10) You learn how hyperlinks work

Maybe you had a more specific question in mind, though; "What does an iPad do better than waiting until a child is 6 years old and has the manual dexterity to manipulate the physical world, especially a pen, paper, crayons, paints, scissors, clay, books, and other esoteric materials?"

The answer is simple, it allows a 4 year old to do and learn what a 6 year old can do with the real world.

Likewise I suspect it allows my 6 year old to do/learn/access what an 8 year old can do, and up along the curve the entire school system.

Meaning that a 6 year old that is learning how to read hasn't figured out how to properly look up something in the library, while that same 6 year old can figure out how to use a search engine to find something (if barely). Of course the problem goes away if the library has a computer, a map of the library, a reasonably good search engine, and a touch/mouse interface that a 6 year old can use.

Essentially think of the iPad (like any tablet) as a portable library filled with video, audio, interactive demonstrations, tutorials, and text, and thus the same reason people like you might value a computer, a child might value an iPad.

iPad mini at less than $300 is impossible, minimally $350 if that. Education sector in the United States is quite below standards because of society surrounding them, yet they think by buying mass numbers of an overpriced tablet is the solution? I'm all for tech on education as a science major student but throwing money at a company dealing with the gov. under the table is not the solution. There are other tablets far more useful if there has to be a tech gadget in class.

Be fair; if a $300 iPad is wasteful then your solution of using "far more useful" tablets is equally wasteful.

Your criticism is two faced. Either the iPad, as an exemplar for tablets, is good, or tablets are bad.

We've been using Kuno (Android ICS) tablets for students. We tried the iPad route with the iPad 1 about 2 years back when everyone in my tech dept thought it was the greatest thing in the world, but they soon found out that managing them was nothing short of a horrible headache. With the Kuno's we can tailor the tablet to the grade level and manage permissions. The only complaint that I would have is that even though they are capacitive touch tablets, their sensitivity is decent at best. Still, managing them is much simpler than our iPads.

The original iPad, with iOS 4, and before some of apple's newer tools for OS X, yep, they were a bit much to manage if you deployed them in very large numbers. If you had an exchange server it was easier, more still if you deployed but a single OS X server, but the tools really came out with iOS 5 for enterprise management.

Because of these tools, my highly anti-apple company has now ditched android for iOS. management is dirt simple now. managed VPN, scheduled app deployment, auto-configuring tablets, patch rollouts, all extremely to do via simple GUI tools on a Mac mini, and 90% of the config other than pushed content is a profile in Exchange. No 3rd party tools, no per-device licenses. Combine that with the classroom content available, and iOS is an instant win decision over even what JB has to offer in enterprise.

You're asking schools not just to invest in a major manufacturer readily supported and simple platform with iPad, and to change to android, but to a SPECIFIC model based on customized software? Yes, maybe its easy to manayge, but that's putting the school in a position of dealing with (and depending explicitly on) a small 3rd party. Kuno is limited to the MLS software and content sold through them, iOS is limited to the curriculum and management apps of thousands of compnaies. Apple seperated management operations into it;s own subset, and lets ANYTHING run on top of it.

This is exactly where iOS largely excels over the alternatives. I have talked with educators from all over the world that use iOS devices, including iPod touches and iPads, in classroom work. Students are using Keynote to make presentations, shooting and editing video using iMovie, and all sorts of other creative, "creation" activities using these devices. It's not simply reading iBooks and playing Math Blaster or Oregon Trail, though iOS devices can do that, too.

Oh, stop. The geekerati have decreed that a mobile device must have full root access and seven Python interpreters to be useful. You are spouting blasphemy. Doctorow decreed that the iPad was the death of innovation. Stallman stated that the iPad was a threat to our freedom and our precious bodily fluids. The high geek potentates have issued their fatwas. How dare you go against them!

My comment applies to Android and iOS tablets alike, but I've been stunned at how easily the nieces and nephew figured out how to use an iPad. Much more intuitive than a computer. The classroom experience, as well, could be completely different than a computer. These things are portable. Kids can bring them to the reading group in the corner. Or carry them up to the teacher to ask a question. The possibilities of real interaction with tablets is so much broader than with that bigger object (computer) that essentially has to sit still on a desk.

No technology is an educational panacea, I just think tablets have much more potential for integrating into the classroom in a natural way than computers ever did.

What would be really interesting for educational use is if Apple ruggedized the iPad Mini more than iPhone and iPad currently are. Rubberize the edges of the case. Or even more importantly, don't use the thinnest-possible piece of glass. That could really make a big difference for educational use. No tablet will be 100% kid-proof, but there are things they could do to make iPad MIni less delicate than either an iPhone or an iPad. And iPad Mini might be just the right size for that. Big enough that an extra millimeter here or there wouldn't be noticed much. Small enough that the tablet's own weight/size isn't it's own worst enemy in a fall.